A bottle cover used for nursing animals is described in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,891 which is incorporated herein by reference.
Experiences with the comfort Grip Bottle Holder described in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,891 have revealed that several modifications and changes will enhance the operability of my prior invention and make the nursing experience more pleasurable for the baby animal or the human infant being nursed. In addition, the modifications and changes make the experience of nursing a baby animal or a human infant more pleasurable for the person feeding a liquid to a baby animal or to a human infant.
Animal care technicians and others who work in veterinary clinics or those animal care technicians responsible for caring for animals in zoos are frequently called upon to use a nipple topped nursing bottle to nurse baby animals. In many situations, either orphaned baby animals or baby animals that have a mother that is unable to nurse are reluctant to consume fluid from a nipple-topped bottle because of its unfamiliarity.
The use of a fabric sleeve around the bottle and a fabric portion around the nipple portion of the nipple topped nursing bottle, particularly where the fabric sleeve and the fabric portion around the nipple bear the sent of the mother or a sibling animal as disclosed in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,772,891, have produced dramatic improvements in overcoming the reluctance of baby animals to take fluid from a nipple topped nursing bottle. The most pronounced effect was seen in the youngest of the baby animals. These very young baby animals actually place their mouth and nose within the center of the fabric portion surrounding the nipple. As some of the baby animals grew older and became more used to nursing from a nipple topped nursing bottle, the reluctance to consume liquid from the nipple topped nursing bottle occurred again.
Animal care technicians who work in veterinary clinics and zoos have also reported that after the baby animal became used to nursing from a nipple topped bottle, the animal care technicians would often receive scratches from the baby animal's claws while feeding the baby animal with a nipple topped nursing bottle. Many veterinary technicians and zoo workers solved this problem by simply wearing thick claw-resistant gloves while feeding baby animals with a nipple topped nursing bottle. However, the use of thick claw-resistant gloves seemed to bother some baby animals. Further, the use of thick claw-resistant gloves removed the pleasure of the experience of nursing a baby animal from the veterinary technician or zoo worker.
Accordingly, a need has arisen to solve the problem of the reluctance of older baby animals to use a nipple topped nursing bottle as well as the problem of veterinary technicians and zoo workers being clawed while nursing baby animals.